Working your way up in Retail...........
Discussion
Hi all.
As the title says, any one in Retail that has started at the bottom and gone through the ranks.
I am wanting to progress to a Department Manager in the next few months and want to become a Store Manager in the next 5 years.
Any tips, advice, stories would be greatly appreciated
Thanks for your time
As the title says, any one in Retail that has started at the bottom and gone through the ranks.
I am wanting to progress to a Department Manager in the next few months and want to become a Store Manager in the next 5 years.
Any tips, advice, stories would be greatly appreciated
Thanks for your time
started as a store assistant at aldi then went deputy in 6 months assistant manage 6 months later and store manager a year after that. How did i do it. I allowed myself to be the companies b
h and jumped through every hoop. Probably wrote off a year of my life when we were short staffed and i did every hour to cover... It then took me 2 years to actually become a proper manager and learn the skills i needed namely people skills rather than management skills.
h and jumped through every hoop. Probably wrote off a year of my life when we were short staffed and i did every hour to cover... It then took me 2 years to actually become a proper manager and learn the skills i needed namely people skills rather than management skills.I've just been put up to acting supervisor at work after nearly two years, it's a 3 month probabtion thing while I go through the training program, although there are times when I am the only 'manager' in and so am duty manager for the shift, the management program goes from sales assistant, to supervisor, then onto assistant manager and then branch manager.
A colleague that started with the company at the same time as me is now an assistant manager. Seems to be an average of 3 years between people starting and then getting their own stores.
A colleague that started with the company at the same time as me is now an assistant manager. Seems to be an average of 3 years between people starting and then getting their own stores.
Hard work, crap hours, poor pay, dealing with public... Sure you want to be in retail!?
If so - I would discuss your wish to move up with a senior manager and ask if they can provide a structured career progression path? What hoops you need to jump through, timescale expectations etc. Will at the very least show you as someone who is looking to get on and invest a career in the company (probably quite refreshing from the ususal retail staff a manager might deal with...)
If so - I would discuss your wish to move up with a senior manager and ask if they can provide a structured career progression path? What hoops you need to jump through, timescale expectations etc. Will at the very least show you as someone who is looking to get on and invest a career in the company (probably quite refreshing from the ususal retail staff a manager might deal with...)
Art0ir said:
Learn to play golf.
Is that still the case? I was on the Tesco superstore trainee management scheme back in the mid-eighties and the only guys getting noticed were those who played golf at the regional corporate days or, even better, played cricket for the Regional Managing Director's team.
chrisxr2 said:
Valiant, please do tell. Also manager, you never stop being their hitch, I have never seen people work so hard for their money as I did at also, though maybe some stores are better than others.
Id love to hear the story too - does the fact that you don't work there anymore mean that you are no longer subject to the rule of "you cannot discuss work matters outside the workplace 
.Sir Fergie
Sir Fergie said:
chrisxr2 said:
Valiant, please do tell. Also manager, you never stop being their hitch, I have never seen people work so hard for their money as I did at also, though maybe some stores are better than others.
Id love to hear the story too - does the fact that you don't work there anymore mean that you are no longer subject to the rule of "you cannot discuss work matters outside the workplace .Sir Fergie
Getting promoted within the same company, is more about who you know and how much they like you, rather than how good you are. Ive lost count the number of times ive seen utter mouth breathers get promoted above people who would perfom 1000x better just because they were liked more. Its bullst but it happens.
Id recomend moving companies every time you want a larger promotion, usually means you get up the ladder faster and theres less bks with other staff members resenting you etc.
Tbh its all the same retail, just putting up with the public, dealing with incompetent bosses, and forever moving st around and running deals and useless training courses so people look like they are "doing something". Its all st, I ended up resenting it all. It gave me a rock solid hatred of the general public, they really are s.
Protip, dont nail all the girls you work with, it will get around and it will hamper your career aspirations.
t but it happens.Id recomend moving companies every time you want a larger promotion, usually means you get up the ladder faster and theres less b
ks with other staff members resenting you etc.Tbh its all the same retail, just putting up with the public, dealing with incompetent bosses, and forever moving s
t around and running deals and useless training courses so people look like they are "doing something". Its all st, I ended up resenting it all. It gave me a rock solid hatred of the general public, they really are s.Protip, dont nail all the girls you work with, it will get around and it will hamper your career aspirations.
Hi guys thanks for replying.
Some very negative comments I must say. The truth of the matter is, I do love my job. How many people can say that....
In regards to the comment about crap pay, surely going from Min wage to eventually 20k onwards is worth working towards???
I actually sat down today and worked through a PDP with my manager and has given me better focus and goals to work towards.
Some very negative comments I must say. The truth of the matter is, I do love my job. How many people can say that....
In regards to the comment about crap pay, surely going from Min wage to eventually 20k onwards is worth working towards???
I actually sat down today and worked through a PDP with my manager and has given me better focus and goals to work towards.
Aye about 50k a year and 25 for assistant manage when i was their ( I was assistant manager), but the guy i worked with never had any time of to spend it, glad i picked a trade and went back to it, (Electronics offshore) speaking to a guy with three jobs that has just been helping fit my windows, he has been deputy manager at jjb, blockbuster and is now a deputy manager at screwfix and he gets payed less than i would get out of bed for. At Aldi they always banged on about how ell paid i was, erm no maybe for retail but it was the second worst salary i had ever been paid. I genuinely always thought that for the responsibility a lot of managers in retail have the money would be much better
slipstream 1985 said:
there are adverts on tv in africa for the poor working conditions of retail managers in the uk. I am paid well though for what i do.
I worked at Tesco and there were lots of people that were already managers that started 'at the bottom' and there were lots of people that rose up whilst I was still there. It really is about ass kissing but also putting yourself out there and making it clear when you want to rise.
When I worked there for the first 2 years there was really no talk about promotion but then for some reason they really started promoting careers etc
The problem with retail is that its relentless and will chew you up. I found it frustrating that you would work hard to stock up one day and then the next day you would be fighting the same battle - on and one and on...
Some of my colleagues worked very very hard..
Don't want to put you off - but long term and in a big store - you will have to work very hard for long hours.
Finally, it can be very competitive. We had managers moving all over the place.
When I worked there for the first 2 years there was really no talk about promotion but then for some reason they really started promoting careers etc
The problem with retail is that its relentless and will chew you up. I found it frustrating that you would work hard to stock up one day and then the next day you would be fighting the same battle - on and one and on...
Some of my colleagues worked very very hard..
Don't want to put you off - but long term and in a big store - you will have to work very hard for long hours.
Finally, it can be very competitive. We had managers moving all over the place.
Mojooo said:
I worked at Tesco and there were lots of people that were already managers that started 'at the bottom' and there were lots of people that rose up whilst I was still there. It really is about ass kissing but also putting yourself out there and making it clear when you want to rise.
When I worked there for the first 2 years there was really no talk about promotion but then for some reason they really started promoting careers etc
The problem with retail is that its relentless and will chew you up. I found it frustrating that you would work hard to stock up one day and then the next day you would be fighting the same battle - on and one and on...
Some of my colleagues worked very very hard..
Don't want to put you off - but long term and in a big store - you will have to work very hard for long hours.
Finally, it can be very competitive. We had managers moving all over the place.
Are you still in Retail? If so what's your current job role? When I worked there for the first 2 years there was really no talk about promotion but then for some reason they really started promoting careers etc
The problem with retail is that its relentless and will chew you up. I found it frustrating that you would work hard to stock up one day and then the next day you would be fighting the same battle - on and one and on...
Some of my colleagues worked very very hard..
Don't want to put you off - but long term and in a big store - you will have to work very hard for long hours.
Finally, it can be very competitive. We had managers moving all over the place.
Long term I would like to become an Area Manager. I'm not worried about long hours and getting my hands dirty.
chrisxr2 said:
Aye about 50k a year and 25 for assistant manage when i was their ( I was assistant manager), but the guy i worked with never had any time of to spend it, glad i picked a trade and went back to it, (Electronics offshore) speaking to a guy with three jobs that has just been helping fit my windows, he has been deputy manager at jjb, blockbuster and is now a deputy manager at screwfix and he gets payed less than i would get out of bed for. At Aldi they always banged on about how ell paid i was, erm no maybe for retail but it was the second worst salary i had ever been paid. I genuinely always thought that for the responsibility a lot of managers in retail have the money would be much better
yes they are at the top of the pay scale for retail and i could probably walk into an oil related logistics job with 10% of the stress and half the hours but im pretty institutialised now. also the hours are long. if i had a family i would quite tomorrow i don't know how some of the managers with kids cope. At least being single i pick and choose my days off and what i do.slipstream 1985 said:
there are adverts on tv in africa for the poor working conditions of retail managers in the uk. I am paid well though for what i do.
Starinthemaking said:
Are you still in Retail? If so what's your current job role?
Long term I would like to become an Area Manager. I'm not worried about long hours and getting my hands dirty.
No, I left quite a while ago - I was always a part timer but I knew a lot of the managers quite well and A LOT of them came and went.Long term I would like to become an Area Manager. I'm not worried about long hours and getting my hands dirty.
In our store we had floor managers (approx maybe 15 during the day), then dept heads (approx 3-5) and then store manager.
The move from floor manager to a dept head - which was usually head of grocery and head of non grocery and customer services/personnel manager was difficult - and even more-so to store manager
All of the store managers did a bit of shop floor stuff but were mainly working in the office. I imagine trying to get to store manager level will be fairly difficult because of the sheer amount of competition.
Starinthemaking said:
In regards to the comment about crap pay, surely going from Min wage to eventually 20k onwards is worth working towards???
It probably looks quite attractive now, being on min wage and rising to 20k but (and presuming you're a youngish guy - sorry if I've missed your age) what about when you're 30+? 20k really isn't a great salary and the earning curve soon flattens out around the 40-50k mark for top store managers. Another big thing to consider is that you may find it a real challenge to move out of retail once you're older and no longer have the energy / inclination to work unsociable hours / family to look after etc.Not trying to discourage you in any way just throwing a few things out there to consider. Ultimately if you have the passion and drive to succeed in your career then it's likely you will - the cream rises to the top as they say. Just pick an industry where the rewards are big and the headroom plenty!
T
T1547 said:
It probably looks quite attractive now, being on min wage and rising to 20k but (and presuming you're a youngish guy - sorry if I've missed your age) what about when you're 30+? 20k really isn't a great salary and the earning curve soon flattens out around the 40-50k mark for top store managers. Another big thing to consider is that you may find it a real challenge to move out of retail once you're older and no longer have the energy / inclination to work unsociable hours / family to look after etc.
Not trying to discourage you in any way just throwing a few things out there to consider. Ultimately if you have the passion and drive to succeed in your career then it's likely you will - the cream rises to the top as they say. Just pick an industry where the rewards are big and the headroom plenty!
T
Hi buddy.Not trying to discourage you in any way just throwing a few things out there to consider. Ultimately if you have the passion and drive to succeed in your career then it's likely you will - the cream rises to the top as they say. Just pick an industry where the rewards are big and the headroom plenty!
T
For the record I'm 25 and I wrote 20k because it's on the lower side and didn't want to sound like I was making it better than it is. I believe my current company pays a starting rate of 33k for a Store Manager. That's on the basis of 7.5 Mil turnover and 70+ staff. I hope to be on around 20k when I'm 27/28.
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